No comments about Curling to Win.

1 comments about Hurry Hard: The Russ Howard Story.

1. A 50-yeard old Olympian. Well done! If you are a curling fan, and/or a Russ Howard fan, you will enjoy this book. Russ Howard, if not a legend, certainly is near-legend status. A good read.

1 comments about Curling: The History, The Players, The Game.

1. Warren Hansen's 1999 book, Curling: The History, The Players, The Game, is probably the best general book on the sport of curling. The biggest problem with it is that it's out of print and hard to find. (I borrowed a copy from the Edmonton Public Library.)
   Hansen, director of event management and media relations for the Canadian Curling Association, is a former Brier winner and founder of national curling schools. He is uniquely well placed to write this book.
   Warren Hansen begins the book with the story of his own love of curling and his curling career. The story is well told and there is no hint of self-indulgence in his telling it.
   He then provides a relatively brief history of curling - again, interesting and well told - before moving on to a discussion of the growth of competitive curling in Canada.
   Hansen then gives brief biographies of 19 top men's and women's skips. Making such a list is, of course, a minefield. Some may quibble that all 17 Canadians chosen for this list - from Ken Watson to Sandra Schmirler -- hail from Ontario or, mainly, the Prairies. But it's hard to dispute Hansen's list and one has to give him credit for treating fairly those such as Ed Werenich with whom he crossed swords in his job with the CCA. All in all, he does an admirable job of recapping the careers of these skips and no doubt had to dig through some archives to provide such full accounts.
   Hansen goes on to provide a thorough analysis of how to develop a good delivery - his description of that alone is well worth the price of this book. He analyzes curling strategy in light of the development of the free guard zone in the 1990s. The book concludes with 2 1/2 pages that examine the future of curling. This little conclusion has the qualities that permeate the book. It is honest, objective, fair and interesting.
   This book is also well and thoughtfully illustrated. My only complaint is that the section on physical conditioning for curling is far too brief and contains the bizarre advice that "the recreational player needs to spend only about five minutes" a day on aerobic conditioning.
   Nevertheless, a lot of planning, hard work, research and quality editing went into this book. It is a true classic. One can only hope that an updated version will soon find its way into print.

No comments about Curling Handbook for Curlers, Teachers, and Coaches.

No comments about Smart Curling: Perfect Your Game through Mental Training.

No comments about Ice Hockey and Curling (Winter Olympic Sports).

No comments about The Roaring Game: A Sweeping Saga of Curling.

No comments about Between the Sheets: Creating Curling Champions.

2 comments about Curling, Etcetera: A Whole Bunch of Stuff About the Roaring Game.

1. I'm not sure what it is that draws me to semi-obscure sports... at least sports that are semi-obscure to the average American. I got hooked on curling during the Olympics a few years back, and now I'll sit and watch a match if it happens to be on (which is rarely). I saw the book Curling, Etcetera: A Whole Bunch of Stuff About the Roaring Game by Bob Weeks and thought it might be a way to learn a bit more about the history and game. While the book is most useful to those who are heavily into the sport, it was still an entertaining read.
   
   Weeks is a journalist/sportswriter who has covered the game for nearly two decades. During that time, he's collected a huge storehouse of trivia and facts about the game that go beyond who won and who lost, where the game was played, and other such statistical information. Rather than continue to sit on all that knowledge, he wrote Curling, Etcetera to get it some of it out on paper. The results is a fast paced book that sheds plenty of color and light on curling, both the history of the sport and the players who give it life.
   
   Curling has its own version of the NFL's "Heidi game", when the network switched to a different program before the end of the match. The CBC never did that again, and in fact put in a new policy that said all curling games would be covered from start to end, regardless of time. When do you retire from curling? Possibly never... the oldest living curler is 93, and there was once a regular competitor who was a spry 102. It used to be that curling had no clocks to regulate play. Matches could take hours (and often did). An experiment to try "speed curling" based on a chess clock was tried in 1983, and again in 1986 during a nationally televised skins game. By 1989, many jurisdictions were using the clock to regulate play, and now it's a regular part of every event. And you know you've made it to the big time when your sport starts to appear in television commercials, sponsored by such companies as Cialis, Labatts, Scotties tissues, and Office Depot...
   
   A fair number of the factoids revolve around legendary names in the sport, but they are not names that would be known much outside of curling circles. Therefore, I think that actual curlers would get more from the book than I did. Still, I enjoyed the stories and history, and Curling, Etcetera did nothing to dampen my enjoyment of the game.



2. I enjoy reading books on curling, and that's why I have a whole bookshelf of them. Ironically, that's probably why I didn't appreciate "Curling Etcetera" as much as someone with less interest in curling might.
   
   For the casual curling enthusiast with a short attention span, this book is perfect. It boils a wealth of curling factoids down into small vignettes that take up anywhere from a quarter-page to two pages. If you know little about the history of curling or its notable players, this book provides an entertaining (if superficial) foundation of such knowledge.
   
   If, on the other hand, you are well-informed on curling and/or have read a variety of other curling books, you will find this book to be redundant and a bit annoying. Redundant, in that there was rarely a fact in this book that I had not already read or learned elsewhere, and more in-depth. Annoying, in that just when you think you are about to learn something new, the article ends and you are on to the next one. I kept thinking that there would be new ground broken by this book, but it never happened.
   
   Overall, this book reads more like a "pile of facts" that were hastily thrown together, than an in-depth discussion of anything in particular. As noted above, this can be good or bad, depending on your existing level of curling knowledge and interest.
   
   Bottom line: If you are a casual or novice curling fan, this book would be a good starting point to learn some interesting facts about the game. If curling is old hat to you, this book will probably duplicate what you already know.

5 comments about Curling For Dummies.

1. This book really helped me out. I was doing a research project on Curling and it really came in handy. It had all the information in it that I needed.



2. As a new curler, this book was a perfect companion to actually playing. It had everything you need to learn the sport. A must read if you want to curl.



3. I picked up curling just after the 2006 Olympics. This book does a pretty good job covering all the aspects of curling, from scoring, sweeping, delivery, and more. This book won't replace a lesson from an experienced curler, but its certainly a good reference once you've gotten out on the ice. This book has the Triangle Curling Club Seal of Approval, if there is such a thing :)



4. The best (and really, for all intents and purposes the ONLY) guide to Curling for us non-Canadians....
   
   I used it while taking a Curling class here locally....it was great fun, it had all the information I would ever need, and it helped me keep up with the lingo and rules without looking like a total homer....



5. From the perspective of the person who curled for several years 8 years ago and is now getting back into the sport by founding a new club, this is a great book with a look of good info for both new and old curlers alike.
   
   With all the press curling has gotten recently, good luck finding a copy.